


Trouble Sleeping

by NR_red



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 2016 Summer Olympics, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Anxiety, Human Names Used, M/M, Mutually Unrequited, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 23:06:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7820764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NR_red/pseuds/NR_red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kiku has a sleepless night in Rio and thinks it might be a good idea to go have some fresh air at, i don't know, 4.50 in the morning?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Basically, it's just me having nightmare and had completely no idea how to deal with it so, yeah, fanfic's always there to help you)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble Sleeping

 

Honda Kiku had never been a good sleeper anyway.

 

Kiku laid awake in his room in the Japan’s quarter of athletes’ village. He knew he should be asleep soon or he would feel exhausted in tomorrow competition. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not force his eyes to shut. Those nightmares be damned.

 

They said foreign environment and anxiety could cause trouble sleeping or nightmare, so that’s probably the case. He had taken drug prescribed to him by doctor though, to help calm himself on a night before competition like this, but it seemed to be ineffective tonight.

 

Kiku tossed and turned a little more but still could not throw those pictures from his two consecutive nightmares away. He’s not much a timid person normally. He’s quite down-to-earth and realistic. But those nightmares were real shit, he needed to admit, even though they’re just some classic mixture of recent horror story he just read and other crazy shit inside his head.

 

_It’s not even about the competition tomorrow, but how come it freak me out like this?_

 

He felt seriously pathetic for himself. The biggest thing he should fear for now was the outcome of competition tomorrow, whether he would progress to the final round or not, not just some horror story he read from internet. That was so damn pathetic.

 

As the clock moved on, the Japanese finally decided to give up on his hope to be able to sleep again. He stood up and stretched his hand over his head. He wanted to go out and have some fresh air. Well, it would be _‘fresh’_ or not he was not quite sure, there’s a lot of news about that. But it’s probably better than staying in a small room like this.

 

He took his jacket and changed from his sleeping pants to a pair of sweatpants, then quietly sneaked out from his room in the athletes’ apartment.

 

The temperature was not too hot and not too cold, Kiku felt thankful for that. The sun was yet to rise so the sky was still dark, but post lamps around the village made it not too dark to navigate around.

 

His team chief would not like this, Kiku reminded himself. They all had listened to the warnings for athletes before departing from their country, and one of them were _‘no wandering around at night, and no wandering around without at least one teammate or team staff with you’_. They’re probably the most important rules for them after the one about how not to get Zika. Well, since everyone would be following the rules, no one -at least of Japanese team- was going to find out about him, right?

 

Kiku wandered around, no one was awake yet, all the buildings were dark and quiet. It’s pretty peaceful, compared to the buzzing city he had seen during the day, and Kiku thought he likes it.

 

He walked, walked, and walked. No destination. No plan. Just let his legs walked and his mind ran free.

 

He walked until someone shouted something to him.

 

Kiku turned and saw a guy running to him. That guy wore a uniform, maybe police uniform. He ran to Kiku and asked something in Portuguese.

 

“Sorry, I...I..uh… could you speak English? Uh… Inglês?” Kiku tried to communicate with the man and luckily, the man seemed to understand...a bit.

 

“It’s no safe, sir. No safe!” The man crossed his arms into an X. “Follow me, follow me" Then, he reached out to grab the Japanese’s arm.

 

“W...wait" Kiku tried to pull his arm free. The chief of his team once told them not to follow anyone, especially those dressed up like officers, unless they’d seen their ID first. “Are you a police? polícia?”

 

“Yes, yes, police" the man pointed at one badge on his sleeve, but Kiku could not make it out as light was too dim.

 

“Can I see your ID?” Kiku still struggled to free himself, but the man’s grip just kept tightening until it hurt. “Please, let me go!” Fear bubbled up inside him; he started to panic. He shouted, hoping someone would just happen to hear him. “Let me go!”

 

“No, no shout, follow me!” The man pulled out a knife and pointed it at him. Kiku didn’t know what to do, his body froze. The man pulled him to one small alley between buildings. _Should he fight? should he just follow him?_ Hundreds of fearful imagination popped up inside his head.

 

_What madness is this? Will he survive?_

 

Kiku felt blood stopped in his veins as he was put against the wall, knife pointing at him. The thief searched Kiku’s pocket to find any valuable things but got only a couple of banknotes.

 

“Fode-se!!” The man swore in Portuguese, then he looked at Kiku and asked something more in Portuguese.

 

“I don’t understand Portuguese!” Kiku tried to speak in the best english he could, but the thief didn’t seem to care to listen. He moved his knife to Kiku’s throat, and the Japanese could feel his breath caught.

 

As the cold, sharp blade pressed into his skin, a shadow appeared behind the man in officer's uniform and knocked him down with a punch probably hard enough to break a couple of teeth.

 

“Guards! There’s a thief here!” an accented voice shouted. The thief in officer's uniform lurched up and ran away so fast Kiku believed he would qualify for national team. “Hey, are you okay Kiku?”

 

Kiku turned to his savior and was quite surprised by the face looking at him. “Beilschmidt-san?”

 

“Yeah, are you ok?” the German man was looking up and down the Japanese man, to see if he's hurt or not.

 

“I...I’m fine. Thank you, Beilschmidt-san" Kiku stuttered.

 

“That’s ok, and you don’t have to call me Beilschmidt, it reminds me of my coach.” It seemed like that was not quite a good thing, considering the German’s face.

 

“I’m sorry, Ludwig-san.” Kiku bowed, now calling the man by his first name now.

 

Ludwig just nodded slightly then said, “We’d better go now. This place is not so safe.”

 

“Y..yes…” the Japanese gingerly followed the man out of the alley. There’s no sign of any living things around them, like the entire village just slept through what had happened to him. The guards Ludwig mentioned was just a made-up story.

 

“So...why are you here? Had trouble sleeping again?” Ludwig asked right after they exited the alley. His vivid blue eyes glanced back to the Japanese man, and did it make Kiku jumped.

 

“Yes… bad dreams" Kiku answered sheepishly, blush creeping up to his face, causing light shade of pink. _Why on earth do I have to feel embarrassed now? Of course Ludwig would know from all the time we have been friends!_   A voice in Kiku's head groaned. The Japanese then glanced at his friends. Ludwig seemed to tense up a bit at the answer, his face looked concerned.

 

“Did you take pill?” He asked.

 

“Yes, but seems like it doesn’t work.” Kiku’s voice was hushed and weak.

 

“You shouldn’t worry much, you always do well in every competition anyway.” the German said, his voice was firm and reassuring. “You practice more than others and devote to the competition more than anyone I’ve known.” There’s tint of admiring in his voice. "You need not to worry."

 

“You are too kind. I’ve still done a lot of mistakes in my events, and these terrible nightmares have nothing to do with the competition tomorrow at all.”

 

“Then may I ask what are they about?” Ludwig asked, ever so politely. His eyes made Kiku’s nerve on fire. It’s like he could stare into his soul and found every little secrets he had hidden inside. They made him feel naked and jittery like nothing had done before.

 

“It’s just some horror story I once read about.” Kiku answered, voice growing softer and quieter every time he spoke. This embarrassment was engulfing him, like a gluttonous monster.  It made his cheeks blushed deep shade of red that it could match a tomato right now.

 

_What kind of grown man he is? Getting nightmares from internet horror story like a teenage girl!_

 

He waited for the German to laugh. He would definitely laugh. No matter how polite a person he was. But the only thing Kiku heard was an understanding ‘um' from the man.

 

“I guess that might be the case too, but don’t come out at a time like this again, ok? It’s not so safe, even in the village.” Ludwig’s face was serious and could be a bit scary, but Kiku knew the man did mean every single word with utmost care and kindness. They just had known each other for too long...

 

“Yes, I believe so. But may I ask why are you here at this hour too?” Kiku asked back, insecurely glanced at the taller man next to him.

 

“Oh, I came out to buy my brother some ointment. He got bit by some insect, I guess, and he lost the one our chief gave him and also lost _mine_. If we ask for another one, they probably let us swim back to Germany.” It seemed like this was such a tiring task for Ludwig; Kiku could hear a soft sigh and see some wrinkles formed up on the man’s forehead.

 

“I hope your brother will recover soon and it’s nothing serious.” Kiku said with his usual politeness, which made Ludwig smile softly.

 

“Thank you, but I think nothing can stop him now. He has been working so hard to come here.”

 

Ludwig’s brother was a diver. He had to rest for a couple of years due to injury, so he missed out London Olympics. But last year, he came back spectacularly to the international stage, winning world championships and all. He would compete in men’s 10m. Platform this time (well, if Kiku remembered it right).

 

Kiku had met the man only once or twice. He was boisterous and, if Kiku needed to put it frankly, a bit  _obnoxious_. But it’s not like he’s completely unpleasant. Ludwig loved him very much. And the guy had never been so bad with Kiku either when he visited Germany, but when his friends visited him and they all got drunk though... Kiku would rather pretend like it just didn't happen.

 

“You’ve been working hard too.” Kiku said, half mumbling, to Ludwig. Some part of him wished Ludwig wouldn’t have such very good hearing ability. But unfortunately he did have.

 

“Th...Thank you. I’m flattered.” Blush spread from Ludwig’s cheeks to both of his ears. He may look like an inevitable gymnast on the outside, but on the inside, he’s actually quite weak to flatter.

 

After that, they let the conversation died down. They walked quietly towards the Japanese team’s quarter. Their hands would touch from time to time, sending a jolt of electric up Kiku’s arm, and made his heart flutter in the wierdest way it had ever been. But then before long, they reached it, the building of Japanese team loomed over them under the light blue and lilac sky.

 

“Thank you for accompanying me, Ludwig-san, and also for rescuing me.” Kiku bowed to the man. “I wish you good luck in the competition tomorrow.” Ludwig seemed to be quite taken aback by the Japanese’s statement.

 

They would compete in the same competition tomorrow, the individual all-around, and he’s the next gold medal favourite after Kiku - who would defend his gold this time. So Ludwig didn't quite expect the other to wish him luck in a such sincere way like that, and found himself speechless.

 

And his silence did alarm Kiku.

 

It's just so obvious how uneasiness crept across the Japanese’s visage. He started to blush and fidget worryingly, but Ludwig really had nothing to say to him. The only thing Ludwig had in his mind, was that this man in front of him was too lovely. Too sweet, too endearing, too loveable for Ludwig to think about other thing than him. He just wanted to reach out to him, touch him, tease him, pinch his nose, cup his cheeks, like the way the Aussie and Kiwi canoeists played with each other.

 

But he couldn’t, could he?

 

They were unlike the Down-Under couple, they were _friends_. Friends did not play with each other like that.

 

“Thank you, wish everything goes well for you too, both in the all-around tomorrow and other events.” Ludwig said, finally, with smile still on his lips. He decided it. He would put a line to the reality and his imagination, and he would not cross it.

 

“You too, and give your brother my regard.” Kiku gave Ludwig a soft smile. He didn’t dare to look the man straight into his striking blue eyes. He couldn’t do that. It would be his nemesis. “See you later.”

 

“Yeah. See ya.” Ludwig said then turned back to return to his building.

 

This was probably the hardest thing Kiku had done so far, harder than dominate the world titles, harder than winning Olympics gold.

 

He stood there in front the gate to his team’s building, watching Ludwig’s back walking away from him. He imagined about the last day of the Olympics, when he would say goodbye to this man again. He would run after him, yes, he would run after him, grab his shirt, tell him how it felt like some part of him was missing all the time when Ludwig’s not around. He would beg him not to leave, beg him not to say goodbye again. Kiku would definitely do that if they were something other than _friends_. He couldn’t that, could he? They had been such good friends for a long time.

 

So long that he didn’t dare to ruin it now.

 

Kiku took a deep breath and stepped into his team’s apartment. He had been silly again. He had sworn to himself many years before that he would just forget this feeling, pretending like it never existed. But here he was again, acting like love-sick teenage girl. He decided to fill his mind with the thought about competition today, what elements he would do, what mistakes he still needed to fix, and how he would protect his gold.

 

He went back to his room, took a shower, changed his clothes, prepared to head to the training center, and became Honda Kiku he had always been again.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> At first I planned for Kiku to go out and have some PokemonGo adventure around the village and bump into Ludwig who's also playing it, but the game is currently not available in Rio for god's sake so, yeah...


End file.
